Does the following sentence make sense?
“That he came without the parcel I was singularly pleased.”
It’s a deliberate stylistic choice on my part to foreground the fact that he came without the parcel, but I’m not sure if it’s grammatically correct. Should there perhaps be a comma in between? (“That he came without the parcel, I was singularly pleased.”)
Sentence starting with “that”
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Re: Sentence starting with “that”
As you have it, no, not possible. But these and other variations are:
That he came without the parcel pleased me greatly.
That he came without the parcel was singularly pleasing.
"That he came without the parcel" means "The fact that he came without the parcel" and is the subject of the sentence. The word "I" introduces a second subject without a conjunction and leaving no predicate for the first subject.
If you really want to stretch it stylistically, I suppose it's possible but you'd better hope modern readers understand it. It's the sort of thing that could work in a song or poem, but is unusual in modern text.
That he came without the parcel pleased me greatly.
That he came without the parcel was singularly pleasing.
"That he came without the parcel" means "The fact that he came without the parcel" and is the subject of the sentence. The word "I" introduces a second subject without a conjunction and leaving no predicate for the first subject.
If you really want to stretch it stylistically, I suppose it's possible but you'd better hope modern readers understand it. It's the sort of thing that could work in a song or poem, but is unusual in modern text.